Kite Runner

I read Khaled Hosseini's book, Kite Runner, a couple of years ago. It was one of the best books I've read in many years. It is one of those stories that makes you feel joy and weep at the same time. I have just noticed that a movie based on the book is due out in November.

Here is a story in the BBC about the reaction to some of the more disturbing scenes in the book by some of the Afghan actors who were in the film.

Kite Runner flies into controversy

By Charles Haviland BBC News, Kabul

Ahmad Khan says he is uneasy about the film in which he stars

Book-lovers and movie-goers are eagerly awaiting the release this November of the film version of a much-loved novel, the worldwide bestseller, The Kite Runner.

But it is running into controversy in Afghanistan, the country where most of it is set, and among Afghan diaspora communities.

Written in 2003 by the Afghan-American Khaled Hosseini, the book spans the years from the pre-war Kabul of the 1970s to the brutality of the Taleban era.

It deals with poignant themes such as exile, a son's longing to please his father and - above all - friendship and betrayal between two boys, the novel's central characters.

"I became what I am today at the age of 12, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975," the novel begins.

"I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek."

Disturbing

That is the narrator, Amir, looking back on the boyhood moment that changed his life.

Only later do we learn what he was witnessing - the rape of the boy who is both his loyal best friend and his servant, Hassan - by a psychopathic bully... More

Go HERE to see a trailer from the movie. I'm looking forward to seeing this and plan to read the book again before it comes out. I can't say anything for the movie yet but if you want a great read check out the book for sure.